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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;BRandM, post: 3075872, member: 22729&quot;]I only have a small collection of foreign counterstamps, with the exception of mostly contemporary Irish political pieces. This is a neat old English merchant stamp c1800. It was actually part of a two coin mini-lot that I got from one of my UK contacts. He digs up hundreds of coins while metal detecting in England and Wales. The other coin is a modern political piece from the Irish Troubles, this one likely from the early 1980s.</p><p><br /></p><p>The heavily worn George III Penny with the &quot;A. Barnes&quot; counterstamp was dug on the River Mersey near Liverpool. Being that the name Barnes is so common, I doubt that the issuer will ever be identified. Though the stamp has characteristics of an old American issue, it&#039;s undoubtedly English, as U.S. stamps are extremely rare on English coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>The 1973 50p with a political slogan was dug on the beach near the Holyhead terminal of the cross-Irish Sea ferry that connects northwestern Wales to Dublin, Ireland. Over the past year or so, he&#039;s found about 20 different coins in the same small area. I have all of them in my collection. </p><p><br /></p><p>This particular coin reads &quot;H Block // Bobby&quot; and is a reference to Bobby Sands, the IRA...Irish Republican Army&quot;... prison commander during the 1981 Nationalist hunger strike. Sands, along with 9 other paramilitary members died as a result of the strike. Seven were IRA members, and three from INLA,,,Irish National Liberation Army...commanded by Patsy O&#039;Hara. H-Block refers to the section of the prison where the prisoners were held. The prison known as HMP Maze , was located near Lisburn, Northern Ireland.</p><p><br /></p><p>Bruce[ATTACH=full]773708[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]773709[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]773710[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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